Cloud Based Services Drawback

This rant is inspired by Network Solutions.  If a company wants to offer a cloud-based service to the public that is sold through a web site and administered through a web site, then it should also allow the client to cancel it through the web site. 

What I shouldn’t have to do:

1) A desperate “Where’s Waldo” search for the ability to turn a service off before the next billing statement.

2) Get referred to a phone number when submitting a request through the contact us form.

3) Have to dedicate 30 minutes of phone time to tell customer service that I no longer need something (and want it turned off), just to have them try to sell me something unrelated.

4) Have to be assigned a “ticket” number so that my request can be “escalated” to a department that can turn the service off.

There is a (mystery) hidden department.  They are too important to be reached by conventional methods.  My request is now up in “the cloud” and this should serve as a warning.  If you are a company that provides services and you make them very easy to turn on but very difficult to turn off then I will not trust you.  Cloud based computing is all about trust because we don’t see anybody behind the scenes and we don’t know anything about them.  If these people are trying to sucker me out of money in the way they design their services and management capability then what does this say about the people that run this company?

I deleted my Facebook account today

It didn't really take too long to decide.  It only took a privacy policy that is tilted 100% against us and a constant trend toward turning all of us into mindless information sharing drones.  I deleted my personal and business accounts because it is the right thing to do.  I have decided to look elsewhere for information sharing and I am very hopeful that diaspora will take off and put Facebook in the grave it needs to go in.  Until then I will be using Twitter and blogging more often.  This is how I voted.  Those that want to remain in support of a company that wants to openly exploit their privacy can do it with others of equal meekness.

Use OpenDNS to Filter Web Content at Home

Most homes use the same basic setup to access the Internet.  They have an ISP that supplies them a router with a dynamic IP address and sometimes the router also provides wireless access.  Other times there is a second box acting as a wireless access point.  This "router," regardless of its wireless capability, is also responsible for handing out IP address information to the computers and other devices on your home network.  One of the things it does is tell your computers what the DNS addresses are.  DNS (domain name system) is what your computers use to translate a domain name (facebook.com), to an IP address responsible for that domain name (69.63.181.12).  So imagine you press "Lee" on your telephone's speed dial and it translates that to 410-914-7010.  This is similar to what your computer does when you type www.facebook.com in your browser.  Your computer asks its assigned DNS servers where to go for facebook.com and they reply 69.63.181.12.  Your current DNS servers are most likely assigned by your ISP. (Comcast, Verizon, etc...)

There are two places you can alter your DNS servers.  On your computer or on the router.  The difference is that altering the router affects all the computers.  So if you want to filter one computer, you change only that computer's DNS setting.  If you want to cover the entire home then you change the DNS on the router.

Let me forwarn that changing IP address settings can screw everything up if you don't know what you are doing. Only attempt this if you understand what I'm writing and always keep track of what you are changing so that you can put it back if needed.

Another thing you need to know is that this is a very simple low tech and low security way to filter web content. So if your teen knows what they are doing they will easily circumvent it by putting another DNS server in their TCP/IP settings.  I use this to filter bad stuff from our youngest daughter's laptop and she could care less.  It just makes me feel better when I hear her mumbling and typing liv girls into the browser that she won't get "live" girls.

So here is how this works...

1. You open a free basic account with opendns.com
2. You change either the router or computer's DNS servers to: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
3. Install a program on your PC to keep updating your IP address so that opendns doesn't lose track of you.
4. Setup the web content filtering under your account in opendns.com.

I was about to write paragraphs of details on the process but that would be silly because opendns did all that.  They even have videos that will walk you through the process.

http://www.opendns.com/support/videos/

iFixit Provides Free Apple Manuals to the World

91 Mac Models, 34 Ipods and a couple of iPhones are available to everyone for free under Creative Commons license.  You can now take apart all that Apple walled garden hardware yourself if you dare.  I know I'll be using it.

www.ifixit.com

Google Launches Public DNS

Google launched a public DNS service touting its speed but I found it slower than the public 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3 option.  OpenDNS was faster too but they intercept to ads and who wants that?  Funny thing is that Google seems to be using Level 3 Communications which also hosts 4.2.2.x.  Still not bad progress toward total world domination.

http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Public+DNS+Launches+Flirts+With+Internet+Domain+Name+World+Domination+/article17034.htm